Prologue of Resolute Hearts
by M. Castor
Summary: These chapters set the stage for the adventures that will change the former, sturdy lives of not just Mia's, Mizuki's, and Risa's stories, but other new characters as well. Must read MIA'S STORY, MIZUKI'S STORY, and RISA'S STORY.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't like too many chapters in these stories so for most of them, if you really like them, you have to put me on the author alert list-last time I'm saying it. Anyways, I hope you take it all in and like it.**

Did I die? All I can see is black surrounding me. What happened to me?

Moonlight Town…a storm…Seth. Where was he…?

My eyes finally open to a dark green color. Slowly, I start moving my numb fingers and analyzing the area with touch. Pointy and stubby-grass, and a lot of it.

When I begin to push up, my body gives up and I flop back down on my chest. I take in a deep breath and exhale, smelling only the grass. So far, I can feel my upper body, excluding my fingers.

"One," I whisper sharply. "Two, three…"

My hands push up against the grass and I manage to slide onto my knees. My weary eyes jump around, accessing this strange place. It's not the beach, and I've never seen this place by my house. If it were another island, then I would smell the sea, see palm and coconut trees swaying in the breeze, and this place would have an island feel to it.

A grassy field at nighttime, without moonlight or stars-this is _not_ Moonlight Beach. In the corner of my right eye are tall deciduous trees leading to another part of this mysterious place.

"S-" the words remain stuck in my throat. Everything that happened on Moonlight Beach comes back to me like a boomerang. Where's the beach? Where are the palm trees and the turquoise sand? _Seth-where is he?_

"Seth!" His name comes out strong. "Seth? Where are you? Can you hear me-Seth!"

My legs wobble as they carry me towards the tall trees far away. A drop of water falls on my nose. As I glance up to the sky more water pelts my face. Wobbling turns into walking, and then into running as I hurry to get to the trees. In an instant, the rain is pouring, soaking my clothes and shoes.

I take some shade under the trees, panting as I nearly collapse on it. I notice my backpack lying by another tree, with some of its contents spilled on the ground. I throw myself at the other tree, quickly gather the food on the ground, using the pouring rain as a sink to wash the dirt off them, and then stuff them in the bag. With the bag hanging off my shoulder, I scurry through the forest of trees with the rain weighing me down.

"Seth! Are you here?"

Only the thunder replies. I slip and fall face-flat on the drenched ground. Water, either tears or mud, streams down my face as I pick myself up and continue to speed through the trees. I throw the branches and leaves out of my water-soaked face and trip over a large pebble. This time I catch myself and land flat on my feet on grass-free ground.

The lightening in the sky reveals the path I'm standing on. One end goes into the street while the other leads elsewhere. At the crack of thunder, I zoom down the right, leading elsewhere. Maybe I can find shelter down there. I am right-a moderate-sized shingle style house reposes stilly in the middle of this storm.

I knock on the door gently, suppressing the urge to break down the door. "Hello? Can someone hear me, hello?" After knocking a couple more time, I bang on it with my fist and cry out, "Hello! Somebody!"

I sigh sadly and turn around. My head drops to the welcome mat, which smiles up at me with its smiley face. Anxiously I bend down, throw the welcome mat to the side and pick up the spare key. I face the door and unlock the door.

"I'm coming in!" I announce as I tilt the door open and step inside. "Anyone in here?"

Guilt stabs my chest. I shouldn't be in here, I could get in really big trouble for doing this, but it's so cold and wet outside. I have to crash here, just for the night.

My perfect night vision gives me a quick scan of the interior of the house that I don't feel like digesting. In the back of the house is an oak, C-shaped staircase leading to the second story. My shoes slop on each step, making as much noise as possible so that the people living here can hear me, climbing the stairs with water dripping off me, and begin knocking on each of the doors.

"Hello?" I slowly push the door open to see a pleasant-looking bedroom. Nobody lies in the jasmine-themed bed sheets and I don't see anyone. I don't really care about anything else in the room because my eyes are ready to close. I throw off the drenched bag and dress, leave them by the staircase railing, and then climb under the sheets.

Seth where are you? I promise, I'll do everything I can to find you. I just need to rest now…


	2. Chapter 2

**Our teen queen has her first "odd" encounter. **

The first thing I can see is black-the sky maybe? I don't know-I can't really make it out all too well right now. God, my head is pounding like a freakin' steel drum. Why do I feel as if I have the world's biggest hangover-I know I wasn't drinking on the damn ship-oh! I remember, I fell off the ship and-and…

Wait…I'm dead aren't I? Oh this is _just dandy_, it's not like I like living or anything. Am I in heaven or hell now? I don't see any eternal, raging fires and demons with pitchforks, nor do I see angelic, serene light spilling from clouds and angels in robes. So maybe I'm not dead?

It takes me four minutes to realize that my eyes are half-way open and that I was just zoning out a moment ago. It's too dark to see much except my stretched-out hand. But this headache is so bad and unbearable-I should go back to bed.

My chest puffs out and then drops again. I want to turn on my side, but a horrible spike of pain wakes me up again. This time, a shadow is standing over my head with rain precipitating on both of us. Rainwater soaks into my eyes as I squint at the shadow.

I open my mouth to say something, but it comes out as a low grunt. The shadowy figure, who looks more like a silhouette, stays stationary. Maybe it's not a person at all-maybe it's just a tree. My trembling hand reaches up to the silhouette to touch it. Suddenly a rush of pain slams into my coronal suture and as everything converts back into grey fuzz.

I hear a soft moaning that wakes me from my sudden nap. More rain splatters against my face mercilessly when I open my eyes again. This time, the silhouette is gone and in its replacement, lightning streaks across the sky while thunder booms in the distance.

Okay, it's time to get up now and see what's up. Gradually, I roll to my side and ever-so-slowly sit up. Something grainy coats my arms and legs-sand, uck; which means I must on a beach-great.

After just sitting there blankly, for no reason at all, for five minutes, I get to my feet and use the rain to wash the sand from my body. As I turn to look behind me, the street lamps glare at me. Blaring cars calmly pass by, illuminating the boardwalk and steps that provide the exit.

'

I lean against a store window, shivering all over. After getting a glimpse of this place, I figure this isn't Tokyo-no flashing lights, ginormous video billboards and Kanji lettering. Yeah it's a city, I can see that by the skyscrapers, annoying ambulances that occasionally pass by, and the chatter from the more popular streets I maundered by.

I sink to the concrete sidewalk, put my head to my knees, and rub my wet arms and sleeves. It's cold and I don't feel so shitty right now.

_Why is this happening to me?_

A sharp skidding interrupts my reverie, but my head still remains down.

"Hey, what's up?"

The man's voice sounds high-spirited and upbeat. Maybe it's just a voice in my head I need to ignore before I look like I'm talking to nothing.

"Yohoo?"

I pick up my head to the upbeat person-who isn't actually a _person_ at all. It's hard to make him, or "it", out with the dim lighting, but it appears to look like a light blue…hedgehog? It has the spikes and everything-literally a life-sized hedgehog.

"You're talking to me?" I point at myself.

"Duh, you're the only one on this street. That's why I was running down here, _no people_."

Okay, this is nuts. I'm going insane already? I've only been here for what, an hour?

"Are you…how do I put this,_ talking_?"

"Yeah I get that a lot. Don't you know who I am?"

I guess I better just go along with this. "No."

"Seriously? Have you been living under a rock or something?"

"Yes, I'm serious. And I really don't belong here, wherever _here_ is. Do you mind telling me where this is?"

"Westopolis. And the name's Sonic," he smiles genuinely, as if smiling is embedded in his personality.

I shake his extended hand with a half-hearted smile. "Mizuki. Is everyone here like-you?"

"No way. Where I come from there are no humans, but since I'm here, I see humans all the time."

A quiet, relieved sigh escapes from my lungs. "Well what're you doing here?"

"All over the news, they were talking about some falling stars, meteors, whatever, and one landed by one of the beaches. I was on my way to the beach to check it out but then I saw you here and decided to talk. So what exactly are you doing here?"

Sharing the details of what the past three hours ago would be painful for him to hear. So let's cut it down a bit.

"I fell off a ship and ended up here. I'm cold, hungry, tired, and will die on these foreign streets if I don't find a motel around here."

Sonic places a finger under his chin while humming. "I have an idea."

'

"This is a bit much, don't you think?" I ask him as I sit on the fluffy motel bed. Leaning against the door, Sonic chuckles.

"Like it?"

"No shit-this is great. And all you had to say was 'My friend needs somewhere to sleep until whenever,'! You must be a big deal in Westopolis."

He shrugs modestly. "You can say that. Need anything else?"

I shake my head, eager to put it down on the pillow and snuggle up under the covers. "Pleasure meeting you, 'Sonic the Hedgehog'. And thanks for helping me out."

He grins, raising a thumb to me. "Don't mention it. I hope we meet again!"

In a flash of blue, the hedgehog is gone with the door slamming shut. But I'm too tired to comment on his inhuman speed, I need to go to bed, or eat first? Or get into dry clothing? Whatever, I'm doing whatever I want to do.

**Don't take this encounter too seriously. Sonic doesn't play much of an important role in my stories-he's just a minor character that supports the story much later.**


	3. Chapter 3

**This is where good ol' Risa is going to begin her new life.**

My entire body tingles with numbness. Why do I feel as if I crashed from space? I open my eyes and force myself to sit up. A dark and clear, starless sky hangs over my head, as if it will give me a clue to what happened. Clancy should be-

I feel for Clancy's wrist, which I was squeezing while we tried to escape that strange sphere. I turn my head too fast, causing a sudden, throb in my neck. Where is the village and the path we were on-and my sword, and Clancy?

I stand up and stare up one of the many trees that surround me. These are not my native willow trees, which means I am probably somewhere else.

I wrap my arms and legs around the tree's bark, then proceed to climb up the tree, using the branches as steps. When I finally reach the top, I stand on a fairly sturdy branch and get a view of where I am.

Ahead of me are more trees, then a small pond, and then something that looks similar to an altar far from here. At the top, something green faintly shimmers that quells my befuddlement and exhaustion for a bit.

_This cannot be my home_. A raindrop plops on my hood as I begin to climb down the tree. Why does it seem like this place is not connected to anything? Is this some dream that I am experiencing-no, a nightmare? It would seem so.

Something treks hastily seven feet behind me. Before I can turn to look for it, I make my way down the tree as heavier rain pours down on my hood. Thunder cracks in the sky as I jump off and nearly slip on the wet forest ground. The faster I leave the forest, the faster the trekking becomes behind me.

"Who's there?" a voice demands.

I emerge from the last batch of trees, softly gasping for oxygen. Whatever is behind me is coming up fast-I have no time to hide. I run past the lake, relying solely on adrenaline and to the grey structure ahead; it seems to be the only place I can be safe. The pursuer starts grunting and growling like an animal.

"Stop right there."

The burning sensation on my arm brings me to a screeching halt. Shit, now I am going to get seriously hurt-I have to disobey this one. Ignoring the pain, I continue towards the structure which comes into better focus than earlier because of the lightening temporarily brightening the field and because I am closer. There is a small roof with grey, sturdy steps that leads to the altar I saw earlier. The green figure that calmed me earlier shines much brighter now that I am separated by stairs.

More rain beats against my face as I get closer to the roof. The fiery voice behind me does not let down.

"Hey, watch it!"

Green light glows just three feet above my head. I touch the first step-that is when a sharp pain stabs the back of my cranium. Like a broken statue, I collapse on top of the higher steps, landing on the side of my face.

"No…" I groan as my vision blurs from sideways rainwater and pain. Thunder crashes next to my ear, rain plops on the roof of the altar and clacking against the tile floor, the soaked footsteps make their way closer to my body as I lie here. The storm of the night succumbs the last of my willpower and brings me to a painstaking slumber.

**Oh, I always love a good chase scene-hopefully, mine was good? And it might be pretty obvious who the pursuer is. **


	4. Chapter 4

**We deviate from the three girls and focus on other vital characters.**

"…_we apologize, but our prior news story has to be cut short by this announcement. Three unknown meteoroids, commonly referred to as falling stars, have entered our atmosphere moments ago. Astronomers and mathematicians have already calculated how hard their impact will be and where they will land. Fortunately, they do not pose a threat to any of us. They are as long as one and a half baseball bats stacked on top of each other. When more information is received, we will have more to report on and play possible footage of the meteoroids. Until then-"_

"Woo-hoho-hoo! Falling stars?" my chair snaps forward. "It's as if God knew I was bored down here!"

I push the rolling chair to the motherboard computer. Rapidly, I press the keys, conjuring a screen from one of the cameras Abaddon planted on one of the city's major satellites. Three orange meteors, in different parts of the sky, drop into the city like slow-gravity raindrops.

"Gah! I can hardly contain my excitement," I cackle as my eyes are glued to the screen. One of the lights splashes into the waters of Goo Goo Beach. I pout-I forgot about making a waterproof camera since I was caught up with the Chaos Emeralds.

Another one spirals into the forest section of Angel Island. My enthusiasm suffers another critical blow; Knuckles will be a pain-in-the-arse to deal with. Really, can't one of them land somewhere that I feel like reaching?

The last meteor descends off the screen. Hastily, I tap a couple more keys, bringing up more cameras, but the meteor isn't on any of them.

"You are not escaping my eyes," I warn menacingly, sipping on the mint tea. "Ow, ow-too hot!"

I put the cup of tea on the paper-covered floor and fan the burnt part of my tongue as I use the other hand to search for the last meteor. Are you kidding me, I lose the last chance of me-

"_Got you!" _I exclaim victoriously as I lean back with folded arms and a smug look stretched across my face. Good job Abaddon, this camera is well hidden in the trees just outside the main city. The last meteoroid crashes in an empty field, twenty minutes from the city. As I zoom in to get a better look at them, the gold debris hides the meteor from investigation.

What kind of material is that made from? This looks like something I've never encountered here. I close the other empty cameras and with my finger, I drag the three main cameras adjacent to each other. How long will it take for the coating to wear off? Why hasn't it yet? What part of the universe did these meteors come from? When I can start analyzing these before my brother does?

Impatiently, I tap on the keyboard. As if God heard my undying need to question everything, the debris dispels uniquely to each meteor. The meteor that landed in the water glows a shimmering sun yellow, escaping into the atmosphere, the one on Angel Island flashes a leafy green color before disappearing, and the one in the empty field illuminates a dim, silver light before dissipating. My hand moves like a moving belt, clicking and saving the data the debris emits. When everything clears, I peer at screen, lifting my circular glasses up slightly.

"They seem to be…humans. Not rocks," I examine as I begin to make out their feminine faces. "I assume the one in the water is human as well."

Oh.

I spin my chair away from the large computer screen, sinking into it. With a surge of renewed energy and excitement beyond that of a child in a candy store, the chair twirls as I leap from it, landing on the piles of paperwork that go flying into the air.

"Yesyesyesyes, woohoo! I didn't expect this at all-oh yeah!" I jump up and down with my bare feet with my arms raised to the

Wait. A. Moment.

I freeze with my arms still raised. Then I rush over to the Chaos Emerald container by the computer. I throw off the shitload of papers and hours of research and gasp when I see the container. Nothing inside-all of my hard work, vanished already.

"Goddamn it," I soccerkick the nearly finished cup of tea into the base of my computer. Normally, I would be more affectionate with my motherboard computer, but now, ugh! Abaddon had better be in the best fucking mood of his life.

* * *

><p>Hm, a starless night. When does that happen often on a clear night?<p>

"Hey Abaddon, how come there aren't any stars in the sky?"

"Answer your own question Topaz." I gaze at Westopolis below the tip of this cliff, or what I like to call "The City of the Damned."

"Cranky as ever, huh?"

When I am ever happy on this goddamn planet? This day is one of my worst days-ever since I dreamed about Angelica last night. I haven't dreamed about her in years, why is she haunting me again?

"Look, look!" Topaz hops to her feet and excitedly points at the sky. "See the shooting stars?"

Shooting stars? I stare up and indeed, shooting stars drop with golden debris are gleaming across the sky. A starless night and shooting stars…?

"There's one-no, two! Ah, no way three! That's three wishes we can make."

She closes her eyes and puts her hand in a prayerful manner. "Diamonds, rubies, and pearls. Hurry up Abaddon, or else it'll be too late."

"I don't believe in shooting stars."

"Oh bite me, I'm sick of your pissy attitude with me today," Topaz storms off the cliff. "See you."

I get a glimpse of her back in my right peripheral vision, indifferently watching her leave. I look back up at the falling meteor and close my eyes hard.

Strength.

Morality.

Angelica.

My phone watch buzzes like a swarm of angry bees. I hit the black button and bring the screen to my face. The scientist's face turns tomato, and her frizzy hair is a deep, brunette disaster.

"Abaddon! We have a crisis here," Dr. Mulierovum screams in to the miniature screen while pressing her hair down in vain.

"There's no need to shout Doctor. What is it that you want, otherwise I'm hanging up," I frankly say. She likes to thinks I'm in the best mood of my fucking life every day.

"I-this-I-" she stammers with her cyan eyes bulging from her round glasses. I show her my other finger ready to press the off button on the side. "Wait, wait!"

She takes in a deep breath and then says in matter of fact tone, "The Chaos Emeralds are gone."

"Would you like me to steal them back?" I dully reply.

"They weren't stolen. They disappeared."

This is going to be a long one. I sit back on the tip of the lonely cliff, folding one leg and letting the other hang. "How is that possible?"

"It has to do with the meteoroids-their entrance the atmosphere disrupted something in the time and space parallelism. They most likely interfered with the Chaos Emerald's spatial powers, dispersing them across the galaxies. You've got to locate them and obtain them quickly."

"Fine I'll get right on it," I reach for the off button until the doctor shouts again.

"I'm not done!" she sighs exasperatedly. "Always in a hurry. You can't sense the Chaos Emeralds like before-their dispersion and the meteors are affecting the Chaos Emerald locating mechanism in your brain. Not even your rings can sense them."

She's right, I'm not feeling any Chaos Emeralds presence in this world anymore.

"At least the Emeralds that I couldn't obtain are dispersed also…?" I ask curiously, thinking of that meddling hedgehog.

"Precisely," she replies scornfully while tapping on the keyboard. "My assumption is, to find the Chaos Emeralds, you must use one of the three meteoroids to locate them. I'm sending you a map with the location of the three of them as we speak."

"Fine. How am I going to use space rocks to find Chaos Emeralds?"

"Ah, ah ah. That's where you're incorrect. The question you should be asking is, 'how will force one of the three girls to pinpoint the location of them'."

Before my mouth can form an O, she answers her own question. "You're a charmer. Come up with something and bring me a Chaos Emerald by tomorrow. By the way, since I know you don't like nuisances, I suggest the one farthest from Westopolis."

* * *

><p>She made it through to the next world. And here I thought this vessel would allow her body to burn up in the dark hole. Then again, this is <em>her <em>daughter I am talking about, she can manage to go to other worlds safely, excluding the Dark ones. She's just not powerful enough yet.

All I can do is project a temporary shadow of my body to this world-if I attempted to step in, I would disintegrate and would become a black dwarf.

The washed-up girl looks directly at me. She sees me already? No, she's not _really looking _at me. Her eye sight shouldn't be that good after all she's been through. However, her hand is reaching up to me, and there's no way I can stop it.

My leg suddenly jabs her skull, forcing a moan from her lips. Why did I do that? It was really unnecessary-ah well, force of habit. I bend down and caress her forehead.

So sorry.

"_Is your 'army' going to attack now?"_ Mother's voice seeps into my head. In a blur, the unconscious girl and the beach vanish and I'm back in my dark realm.

"Mother, I mentioned once before-"

"_Nothing escapes my memory. She is right in front of you, and you are merely going to watch her?"_

"Yes," I answer nonchalantly. "And my army has a very infamous name you should care to remember."

"_The Heartless-such a fitting name for such odious monsters_," she says rhetorically, then to Uncle, "_why not just disable the force that keeps Dori at bay?"_

"_The situation will be handled smoothly."_

"_As I see in the future. The Heartless will plague that world soon."_

And now, we wait.

* * *

><p>"What?"<p>

I was too distracted by the other shooting stars to notice one of them hit the island. I get to my feet, skulking the forest end of Angel Island for anything suspicious. There's something weird in the trees-an intruder.

I stomp after the human. A light drizzle randomly befalls the island. Like a clumsy bird, it falls off the tree branch and starts running. I knew it; it's someone after the Master Emerald. The rain comes down heavier, slowing down my normal running speed.

"Who's there?" I shout as I speed after him. The human ignores me foolishly, and continues towards the altar. Who does that human think he is? Humans who do stupid things like this piss me off-_most _of them are so foolish. With my arms flailing and my short legs kicking, I'm almost within arm's reach.

"Stop right there," I warn as I catch up to the intruder. He comes to an immediate stop, much to my surprise. As I get closer, the intruder restarts his fleeing.

He's right under the altar now-I can't let this happen _again_.

"Hey, watch it!" I give him the final warning before I propel off the ground. As soon as he reaches the first step, I give him a good knuckle sandwich in the back of his head. He drops on the steps, with his back to me, moaning for a couple of seconds and then stopping. I breathe heavily, relieved that I was able to thwart his plans.

Time to find out who the intruder really is. I tip toe over to the intruder's profile, which is covered by a hood. Stiffly, I push his body onto his back and quickly raise my fists, ready to pulverize him if he really is alive still. I gasp.

Even though the face covered, some of the human's face juts out, showing girly qualities. Then again, she is wearing some sort of green, long dress with a red sash around her waist. A woman tried stealing the Master Emerald? And it doesn't look like Rouge or Topaz, which means she must be a new thief.

"Get up, lady," I roughly shake her shoulders. She doesn't make any response, not even a grunt. What do I do with her?

**And we end this on a comically note, yeah I know, very impertinent. This might all seem really confusing now, but when it continues, everything will make sense I promise. Just review pretty please, thanks ;)**


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